Ch 3? No way!

FrdNwsm

So I paid this Gaelen guy his big bucks, and he tries to catapult me head first into Ch 3. Instant Re-load! Sorry dude, got too much on my plate to take on more stuff. I have finished 15(!) quests, have a dozen more on my to-do list, and haven't even talked to Korgan, Neera, Viconia or the Harpers yet, haven't gone to Trademeet or even had a chance to go to my stronghold and collect the bloody taxes! I have something like 2000 in gold waiting there, and no time to get it.

Can we hire mercenaries to do some quests for us? I'd be willing to pay top dollar! Err, top gold, I mean; I doubt they'd be interested in green and white paper rectangles with funny pictures on them.

As a totally unrelated side query; is there an experience cap in BG2 (I assume there is), and if so what is it?

joluv

Don't worry, you can still do all those Chapter 2 sidequests in Chapter 3.

In BG2:EE, the experience cap is 8,000,000.

Yannir

Chapter 3 only brings 1 additional questline. This is for Aran Linvail, the Shadowmaster of the Shadow Thieves. He gives you three quests which you do in order. There's no timeframe for these quests, so chapters 2 and 3 don't have a huge difference. After the third quest you start Chapter 4, which you don't want to get to until you're done with other stuff.

So don't worry about it.

dunbar

I often wish I could use the money generated by the d'Arnise Keep to hire mercenaries to deal with the problems there, thereby improving the efficiency of the estate and generating more income to hire more mercenaries. These mercenaries could then deal with the troublesome neighbours by invading them so that I could incorporate theirs lands into my estate, generating more income to hire even more mercenaries. That way, by the time I get back from Brynnlaw I would have an army at my beck and call (at least that's how it would work in the dysfunctional world that I call my mind).

Yannir

@dunbar Mercenaries are fickle. When somebody with more money comes along, those mercs will turn on you. Although, it would be awesome if De'Arnise keep was invaded a 2nd time, and you could do it all over again.

atcDave

I usually save most quests until AFTER I've gone for Imoen.
But then I usually want Imoen for my primary Mage.

procco

@atcDave How do you deal with all the stuff that comes after rescuing Imoen? I've done that with a relatively high level party and found it really difficult. Does that stuff all scale depending on your level? (Avoiding spoilers)

scriver

BG2 features quite noticeable level scaling, yes, but is think the immediate events following Imoen rescue attempt would still be harsh if you're too low level (particularly the optional stuff?).

hispls

AFAIK, Imoen's XP will vary depending on when you head out to rescue her, so if you plan on keeping her, there's a couple sweet spots where you can pick her up and she is closer to on par with your party.

Lord_Tansheron

I don't think anything is actually contingent on Ch. 2/3, aside from the main story quest. Everything else is at best dependent on the amount of XP you have, not whether you're in Ch2 or Ch3.

FrdNwsm

OK, well, if it doesn't change anything, then chapter 3 can damned well wait. If I pay Gaelen off now it will leave me almost broke. I can do better things with the money right now.

Lord_Tansheron

You do get to save money, and there are several things that are worth buying.

However, you also get some very good items and quite a chunk of XP from advancing the main story quest.

Tough call.

BelgarathMTH

I read a post once where someone said he had done all the possible quests, and had extravagantly spent so much money equipping various npc's and himself with all the best shop items, that he could not put together the needed 15,000 gold to continue the game.

Since I read that, I've always saved back 15,000 gold while I'm questing and buying more equipment. There are especially two items that I "wouldn't leave home without", and each one of them costs 15-25,000 gold depending on my reputation when I buy them.

The amount of gold to be had from all the quests is not infinite, so be careful about that.

Lord_Tansheron

Pretty sure you can always find spots with rest-respawns that drops something you can sell.

Not to mention you could in fact sell your gear back if you REALLY had to. Worrying about gold being finite is a bit overdramatic I think.

elminster

Or when you get 15,000 and just pay right away. Everything after that can be put towards equipment.

FrdNwsm

>>amount of gold to be had from all the quests is not infinite,<<

Umm, you seem to forget I have gold piling up in my Keep. I haven't touched that yet, been too busy doing other stuff to even go collect it, but I estimate it's around 2,000 and growing. And yes, there are places that respawn critters, whose gear you can sell.

atcDave

procco said:

@atcDave How do you deal with all the stuff that comes after rescuing Imoen? I've done that with a relatively high level party and found it really difficult. Does that stuff all scale depending on your level? (Avoiding spoilers)

Some things scale; in the Shade Lord's lair you can encounter a couple Lichs if you save it for later. And there are Vampires in the Windspear Hills that aren't there if you go right away.
So if maximizing XP is the goal, doing a couple of the more fixed encounters (like Nalia's Keep) first, then running off after Imoen is clearly the best way to go. Also, if Imoen will be a part of your party (she always is for me) I think it's better to recruit her sooner so you can build her to your liking instead of getting the higher level version.
From a pure RP perspective, rescuing little sis is my top priority. So I definitely want to get her fast. Everything else can and will wait.

FrdNwsm

>> if Imoen will be a part of your party (she always is for me) I think it's better to recruit her sooner so you can build her to your liking instead of getting the higher level version.<<

Ok, this is an interesting statement. If this were BG1 and she were still a pure thief, I'd agree with you. But she's stuck at level 7 thief, isn't she? If she gets new mage levels, well, how badly can you screw up a mage? If she learns new spells you don't want, can't you just erase them and give her some scrolls to learn different ones? Or are you saying that she can still progress as a thief?

Lord_Tansheron

Time to plug EEKeeper, and how it can turn any story NPC into exactly what you want, and how you want it :P

FrdNwsm

>>it can turn any story NPC into exactly what you want<<

Isn't that ... oh, how to say this ... CHEATING?

atcDave

Higher level Mage can have all sorts of wasted spell slots (which of course can be fixed), and one wasted weapon proficiency.

To me the main thing is the story. I want my sister back. I also have a hard time justifying levels she gained while captured (?). I would say this bit of scaling is a bigger cheat than using EEKeeper! Especially if you're just using it to match her to herself from late BG1.

Lord_Tansheron

FrdNwsm said:

>>it can turn any story NPC into exactly what you want<<

Isn't that ... oh, how to say this ... CHEATING?</p>

A mere technicality. Any mod is technically cheating, too, and playing the game unmodded is just... unthinkable.

We're all grownups. If you want to make your characters 25/25/25/25/25 then by all means, but I think most people can contain themselves and remain reasonable.

FrdNwsm

>>if you're just using it to match her to herself from late BG1<<

Well yes; in BG1 she was actually stronger the way I trained her than she was at the start of BG2. I took her to level 8 thief before dualing her over. Would have been nice to import her as well as MyChar. That use of something like EEKeeper could probably be justified in such a case. What I was referring to with the cheating comment was the bit about turning ANY NPC into anything you want.

Lord_Tansheron

I don't see anything wrong with essentially grafting a multiplayer game onto singleplayer mode. I could do the exact same custom party in multiplayer, but then I'd have to deal with the weird MP stuff each time I start the game, and I'd miss out on all the banter, romance, and general atmosphere.

It's up to every player to use the tools responsibly, and in a way that works for them. You can "fix" some characters to fit your interpretation better, or go for some interesting RP variant, or just go all-out and plain disconnect the character stats from the character personality.

lunar

I have scs component that ups the price asked, so I have to pay 65k to Gaelan Bayle.

It is doable if you have a thief or bard with very high pickpocket skills. The merchants in the Waukern's Promenade are ripe for stealing. The dwarf Arnolinus (or such weird name) and the fletcher near him sells some expensive enchanted gear, you can steal them all and sell them to a fence. Especially, the arrows of biting the fletcher sells can be sold for a lot of gold! I disabled stealing from fences in my game, so this is a one time event. Also, any valuable you want to sell, sell it to a regular merchant, steal it back and sell it to a fence. Example, a Laeral's Tear necklace can be sold for 1800 gp, with this method you get easy 3600 gp!

Daevelon

I usually start chapter 3 as soon as possible; not for rescuing Imoen, for the amulet of power.
Then i keep doing side quests. I really hate level drain (anyway after the last patch is not so bad).

FrdNwsm

>>playing the game unmodded is just... unthinkable.<<

Why so? I'm not using any mods so far.

Lord_Tansheron

@FrdNwsm Oh my sweet summer child. You'll learn.

deltago

FrdNwsm said:

Can we hire mercenaries to do some quests for us? I'd be willing to pay top dollar! Err, top gold, I mean; I doubt they'd be interested in green and white paper rectangles with funny pictures on them.

Not until ToB.

Gallowglass

@FrdNwsm - you don't have to listen to @Lord_Tansheron.

@Lord_Tansheron - even some of us who are fairly experienced players find it perfectly thinkable (and indeed eminently playable!) without mods. Even with the original BG series, I played without mods (except for bug-fixes). One day I might try a mod, but I'm not yet bored with the standard game, and I'd always advise a new player against modding until they've at least completed the standard game a couple of times, so that they properly understand what the mod is changing. Have you ever thought of joining your local "Mod-aholics Anonymous" group? I hear that they can help people who have your problem.

GreenWarlock

I'm with Gallowglass, and entirely mod-free, almost entirely console-free, by habit. I think it is great that there is a modding community out there doing interesting things with the game, and doubtless it improves it for experienced players, but unless you play the original you can't rate whether mods are improving or detracting form the experience for you, and almost certainly will not experience the original plot and reveals as envisaged by the authors - and that can have a detrimental affect when first experiencing the story.

That said, the EE editions are effectively sanctioned mods, providing new content that was not envisaged in the original game, and consequently changing the pacing and game-balance though the story, especially changing the balance bringing the BG2 engine to BG1, and I think that is (mostly) a change for the better. It would be interesting to play BG1 vanilla again though, not just for old times sake. Not as easy on the Mac though.